Many parents find arranging occasional babysitters to be one of the more challenging aspects of parenting young children. Sometimes, locating qualified babysitters for the hours needed presents a challenge, and sometimes, affording babysitters is difficult. For some parents, leaving their child in the care of someone they do not know very well is simply out of the question.

In many communities around the U.S., parents pool their resources to address these challenges by starting babysitting co-ops. Babysitting co-ops come in many different forms. Some smaller co-ops are made up of 5-10 families, while larger ones may have 20-30 families. Some co-ops have adopted a centralized system utilizing a secretary and a program director. Others are decentralized and use neither a director nor a secretary. Despite these organizational differences, all babysitting co-ops start at the community level and gradually expand to enlarge the pool of adults who share in the care of their children.

This article will provide an overview of two basic kinds of babysitting co-op structures, features essential to both structures, and avenues for locating prospective co-op families.

Centralized Co-ops with a Secretary

Families with young children who belong to babysitting co-ops exchange babysitting services. Centralized babysitting co-ops use a point system and a secretary. Families in the co-op call the co-op secretary to request babysitting services. The secretary coordinates the babysitting arrangement by contacting co-op members to identify a family that is available to baby-sit. The secretary maintains the point books on each family and records point deposits and withdrawals. Each family might start out with 40 points-with 4 points awarded for a one-hour baby-sitting session for each child-giving point values worth 10 hours of babysitting services. A family needing a three-hour baby-sitting session one afternoon, for example, must contact the secretary. The secretary checks her records of co-op families to see who is likely to be available during the hours requested and finds a family to fill the baby-sitting request. The secretary takes into account other factors, such as parents' requests for particular families and those families most in need of points. When a family's point balance is low, they must provide babysitting services to build their balance up. The secretary position is typically rotated among co-op members. The secretary is sometimes awarded additional points as compensation for the additional time spent performing the secretarial duties. The primary advantage to this co-op structure is convenience for the co-op members. The secretary makes the calls to find the sitters. It may also be easier for those called to turn down a baby-sitting request when asked by a secretary rather than by a family in need.

Decentralized Co-ops without a Secretary

In the decentralized type of babysitting co-op, families find their own sitters from the co-op membership list. A coupon system is often used in this type of co-op. The coupon provides the tangible reminder of a family's co-op status or "wealth." Each family in the co-op might be awarded 30 coupons with each coupon worth ½ hour of babysitting, giving them a coupon value worth 15 hours of babysitting services. Each co-op family is provided a detailed listing of other families in the co-op that includes names, addresses, phone numbers, ages of children, pets in the home, and general hours of availability to sit. A family needing a three-hour baby-sitting session one weekend morning, for example, must check their membership list and call those families who are likely to be available during the times they need care. The family in need should consider the ages of other children in the other member's home or the location of the other members. The family then "pays" for the service at the end of the baby-sitting session with coupons. When a family's balance of coupons is low, they must solicit "sits" from others to build up their supply. When a family's balance is high, they are encouraged to spend the coupons and get them back into circulation. Although this type of co-op does not utilize a formal secretary, it does require some leadership to maintain the membership lists, to distribute copies of agreed upon policies and procedures, to make and replace coupons, and to schedule social and/or business meetings. The primary advantage to this co-op structure is its simplicity and ease of implementation. There is no secretary position, and members select the families they want to call for babysitting.

Essential Elements of All Babysitting Co-ops

At the core of all successful babysitting co-ops are families who trust and respect each other enough to care for one another's children with some regularity. As with all cooperatives, families must be willing to work at developing agreed upon policies and procedures. The overviews above outline the basic elements of babysitting co-ops. The particular policies and procedures for operating a babysitting co-op need to be agreed upon by the membership families. Creating policies and procedures involves addressing such issues as these:

* whether the baby-sitting session occurs in the home of the "sitter" or the "sittee"

* how to "charge" for more than one child

* whether to "charge" additional coupons for hours after midnight or overnight

* how new families are added to the group

* how families leave the group

* who provides for various consumables such as diapers, bottles, and food

* how frequently families must use the co-op to be considered active members

* when a child is considered too sick for a baby-sitting session

* how discipline is handled when a child misbehaves

Policies and procedures need to be reviewed and revised as families in the co-op have additional children, as children grow from infants to preschoolers, and as new families join.

To be successful, babysitting co-ops should be a positive experience for all-adults and children. Families who spend time together are more likely to develop friendships that enhance the babysitting co-op experience for parents and for their children. Regularly scheduled social events, such as picnics, potlucks, pizza nights, sledding or skating outings, holiday and birthday celebrations, and "adults only" nights out, provide enjoyable opportunities to strengthen the ties between adults and children in the co-op. These occasions can be combined with short "business meetings," in which adults can discuss co-op policies and procedures. When a group of families sustain their commitment to one another over time, they can develop into a kind of community, offering support to one another beyond babysitting services-offering care and comfort during a serious illness, a hospitalization, or other family trauma, for example. This kind of close community is particularly valuable for families who do not have relatives living nearby.

Avenues for Locating Co-op Families

Whether you wish to develop a babysitting co-op to provide a ready source of babysitters or aspire to create a community of families that exchanges babysitting services and develops deep relationships over time, you will need to identify prospective co-op members. Co-ops are ideally composed of families with children of approximately similar ages. Prospective co-op families might be found in any of the following places: your neighborhood, place of worship, workplace, fitness center, prenatal or postnatal exercise program, local YMCA/YWCA, local park district, preschool, or health clinic or pediatrician office. There is no formula for assuring that all families will "click" with one another in a babysitting co-op. If families are committed to building a successful babysitting co-op-working together to develop sound policies and procedures and establishing a system for communicating on a regular basis-they will be headed in the right direction.

Sources

Myers, Gary. (2000). Smart Mom's Baby-Sitting Co-Op Handbook. Tacoma, WA: Tukwila.